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Kosher Expert Reveals 2024's Top Passover Wines
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Kosher Expert Reveals 2024’s Top Passover Wines

By Joe Winger — 9 months ago

Wine Expert Jay Buchsbaum Reveals 2024’s Top Passover Wines for Passover 2024

Passover starts Monday April 22 at sundown and ends April 30th. But today’s conversation is about the flavors of Seder dinner.  

Jay Buchsbaum

Royal Wine and Kosher.com’s Jay Buchsbaum visits to talk about flavor, tradition, tastes for every family member and what’s exciting in the wine world for 2024.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.  For the full, unedited conversation, visit our FlavRReport YouTube channel.

 

Joe Winger: Jay, welcome back.  I appreciate that you’re returning.  Last time was great and we learned alot.

Jay Buchsbaum: Thank you for having me. Wow. This is great. So getting invited back for a second date, that’s really cool.

Joe Winger: Passover is just around the corner and we want to talk about different over wines to enjoy during the celebration and some great wine pairings.

I wanted to start off with what might be one of the popular new bottles – Carmel Black Cabernet Sauvignon.

Jay Buchsbaum:  It’s very hot and the reason it’s very hot is because people want something that’s rich and flavorful, especially the American palate, what we call the New World style.  

Opulence, fruit forward, but they don’t want to spend a fortune like you’d have to from some fancy vineyard in Napa or from Judean Hills. When it comes to Israel or the Golan Heights, and this is one of those wines where they’ve put together this at the beginning of opulence, lots of fruit forwardness, 14 months in oak and about $25.

So it’s really one of those really wonderful wines. What I noticed, and they say they forgot to do it, but I noticed that it does not have an appellation specific, except for Israel.  The reason I believe the winemaker did that –  I don’t know for sure – he talks about it on the back [of the bottle] that they brought the grapes from some of the finest vineyards.  He chose small amounts [of grapes] from the best vineyards from different places and put them all together, carefully crafting it so that it’s big and rich and flavorful and still under $30 bucks.

Joe Winger: That sounds amazing. What are some good food pairings that you’d recommend with it?

Jay Buchsbaum: A roast would be great. On the first and second night of Passover, we don’t officially roast anything because we don’t want people to think that it was a sacrificial lamb that was done in Egypt because we don’t have it today yet.

Until the reestablishment of the temple on the Temple Mount at some future time. 

So people cook a roast in the oven, it’s not barbecued. That’s what they’re talking about from a historical, spiritual sense –  but a delicious roast, maybe chicken marsala, where you have mushrooms and caramelized onions, you have a really rich flavor to go with that.

A lot of the Sephardic foods are like that too. We talked about traditional foods. Traditional foods from where? Sometimes it’s Eastern Europe, sometimes it’s Middle Eastern, and sometimes it’s Sephardic.

Lots of seders have a mix of all [cuisines] because you have melded families.

 

Joe Winger: Royal Wine currently has a wide roster of wine suggestions for Passover  Something for every adult at the table, from Grandpa to 25 year old Grand-daughter and her boyfriend.

 

Jay Buchsbaum: That’s a great point.  I’m going to give you the last one first only because I thought this was so much fun when I thought about it and I actually might do it. 

Let’s say the boyfriend is coming over. He wants to bring you something and he doesn’t know what to get you because, he’s not that observant..

So I thought, why don’t you end the meal with something Sparkling. The Momentous Rosé. That might be fun. You go out with a pop, so to speak. There’s Vera Wang’s  Prosecco Rose that’s also wonderful.   Both around $20.

But if you want to go really high end, why not go with the Rothschild Brut Rosé from Champagne, which is magnificent.  It’s 100% Pinot Noir, and about $100 a bottle.

So you have great diversity and  accessible and quite delicious sparkling wines.

Grandpa, or if you have a real fine wine guy. You have beautiful wines from the Rothschild vineyards, the Haute Medoc. which is in the upper $30s, and then you even have Grand Cru’s LesCombes, Grand Cru Margaux as an example, and some amazing wines from the Herzog Winery in California like the Alexander Valley Herzog Reserve, or the Napa Valley Herzog Reserve.  

We have a beautiful Lake County Reserve Cabernet from California. Big, opulent, delicious, mouth filling. 

I start my Seder usually with a rosé.  The reason for that is because you’re starting your Seder, having eaten nothing pretty much since the morning. So you’re on an empty stomach and the tradition is to finish at least the first glass. So I try to start with a rosé.  It’s a little lighter, a little lower in alcohol, a little lighter in texture and, and I like to start with an Israeli wine first.

Joe Winger: Iis there a hidden gem as far as just high quality with amazing value?

Jay Buchsbaum: There’s a really wonderful wine from New Zealand.

It’s a white wine, not a red wine. It’s made by the Rothschild family, but it’s made in New Zealand, called Rimapere Sauvignon Blanc. Less than $30 for sure.  Fresh, sweet lemons, but with enough acidity and structure, almost like a palette cleanser.

Joe Winger:  Anything that you’re looking forward to in the next few  months that wine lovers should be getting excited for?

Jay Buchsbaum: We were missing rosés from Israel for a whole year because of the sabbatical year. We skipped that vintage of roses, and so they’re back for the first time in 24 months for this Passover.

I love some of the new Italian wines. One of them to take a look at is Cantina Giuliano.  it’s a boutique winery. They make 3,000 – 4,000 cases maximum. It’s run by a young couple and I just had them over at my house for Sabbath Shabbat.  His wines blew people away.

I think the most exciting thing is our new winemaker and what our new winemakers is doing with our grapes. His selection and his final product over at the Herzog Wine Cellars. And that could be

Our new winemaker, his name is David Galzignato. He’s with us about three years and he has a background that is with some of the finest and smallest, medium sized boutiques. 

He was going to be moving to France, going to go for his MW [masters of wine] and they asked him if he’d come and consider working with us and he did. He has been making literally blow your brains out wonderful wines so our Napa Cabernet, our Alexander Valley Cabernet are just up and down the line, the wines, especially the reds are just rich and opulent.

He got Joseph Herzog to buy a visual sorter, they range in cost between a $100,000 – 1 million dollar machine.

What they do is when the grapes come in [during harvest] and there’s something called sorting tables.

Done by hand [vineyard workers literally sorting through the harvested grape bunches, looking for]  damaged or a little beat up or whatever, and they only allow the perfect grapes to go through. 

This visual sorter does this electronically by computer, so nothing is missed, zero. As a result, the grape quality is much higher

Famously said in The New Yorker Years ago, “There’s only three things that matter in good winemaking. Good grapes. Good grapes. Good grapes.”

So, the fruit that we get and the fruit that we end up making wine out of is literally the most important thing.

By using these kinds of methods, which are not inexpensive. But the quality is through the roof. We’re looking to make a 100 point wine one of these days and I think it might we might get close this year. 

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‘Let’s Tell the Truth about Kosher Wine’ Gabriel Geller visits to reveal his favorite wines for Passover

By Joe Winger — 2 years ago

‘Let’s Tell the Truth about Kosher Wine’ Gabriel Geller visits to reveal his favorite wines for Passover.

Passover is almost here, starting on April 5.  Today we are talking with wine reviewer and Kosher.com expert Gabriel Geller about the truth of Kosher wine.

And well…   A lot of people are mis-informed.  We have Gabriel to make it all easier.

 

 

Passover is coming up. So what is wine’s role in Passover? 

 

Wow!  So of course you know,  it really depends who you are talking to.

If you talk to the more Orthodox Jews,  they’re gonna say they want wine that comes from Israel. Something that’s affordable, and that’s easy to drink, and that’s red.

 

The rest of us have the custom that, specifically, for Passover there’s the 4 cups of wine at night. 

 

They want a red wine and they want something that’s easy to drink, because there are 4 cups that you have to drink during that meal.  They want something that they can drink easily and quickly.  So something that’s not too tannic or acidic, something that’s really not too expensive, because they need a lot of it. They’re gonna have a lot of friends. 

 

Then we can talk to people who are not as strictly observant. 

They’re just looking for good wine. They know that they need to have 4 cups of wine for the seder, so some will say “let’s try 4 different wines, any type.”  Others will say “Well, maybe let’s have a wine that will pair well with what I’m going to serve as the meal.” 

 

And so you’re gonna have a really wide variety of requests from different people. So I usually try to address every segment of the market.

 

 

Let’s talk about Kosher wine.  What’s difference between Kosher wine and other wines?

 

Okay. So for that I’m going to pick up this bottle [he holds a Drappier Champagne]. This is a very nice bottle of champagne. If you look at the front label and at the back label.  Now you go into a wine store that you know sells a pretty good champagne, whether you’re looking for the kosher version of it or not.

 

You’re not going to see any difference between the two [bottles], except for this little symbol here, which means orthodox. 

 

You need the name of the Kosher agency that certifies that. 

 

That’s why this is kosher. 

 

There’s the kosher version and non-kosher version. The difference between the two [bottles], besides the symbol on the label is the fact that from the moment the grapes are crushed coming from the vineyard, to when the wine is sealed, and all that it’s set up to serve, and Jews who handle the hands on the process.

 

Everything else is exactly the same.  

 

The fermentation, the acidity, the secondary fermentation; and that goes for every single kosher wine.  The only difference in terms of process and ingredients. The process itself has to be done by observant jews and that’s that’s pretty much it. 

 

Of course the ingredients should be kosher, but that’s usually the case. You know there’s some fining agents that sometimes can be non-kosher. That’s very rare. I would say that 95%, maybe even more, of all wine produced in the world do not have any non kosher ingredients. It’s really about who handles the process.

 

 

Gabriel’s choice: Carmel Volcano Merlot 2020

Shop more of Gabriel Geller’s wine advice here.

Wine Pro Etti Edri Reveals the Perfect Wines for Passover
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Wine Pro Etti Edri Reveals the Perfect Wines for Passover

By Joe Winger — 2 years ago

Wine Pro Etti Edri Reveals the Perfect Wines for Passover

Carmel Winery’s Etti Edri had a few minutes to stop by and talk about Passover, her favorite wines and some incredible family meals to pair with those wines.

 

Carmel Winery has great wines for Passover.  Tell us about them

 

When you are a winery that produces one for 140 years and Rothchild has been so happy and  proud about us, we always have to mention him.  I always love mentioning the consecutive harvests that we carry. 

 

 

It’s not an easy thing, especially not in Israel, especially during the Muslim era, especially when, during the Ottoman era, we continue to produce great wine in Israel, which is a great thing.

 

And I am privileged to work in such a winery that, the first Prime Minister of Israel used to work there. So this is a great thing. It’s not just the history of it all, but it’s also the one-step-after-the-other, it never stops, we’ve been continuously working.

 

It’s the love of the work, and the love of the land, and the 108 families of growers that have escorted us since day one. 

 

This is not just about wine making, but it’s also to preserve the philosophy that we’ve been making wine for a thousand years and we want to be making wine another 5,000 years. We will keep it going, which is not an easy thing. 

 

So of course I come from Carmel. What’s important for me is to talk about Carmel Winery, that we are able to produce wines from a wide spectrum of wine.

 

When we sit together for Passover.  There are younger people: 18 year old’s, 20 year olds, but it’s people we wanna bring in and invite to the wine world.

 

Because the wine world in Israel is just since the 1970’s, even though they used to produce wine thousands of years ago.  After the Muslim era until the seventh century there was no wine at all. So when Rothchild came, he had to start everything from scratch.

 

So what he started, we actually sustained. And when we sit together at the table for Passover there are 18 year olds, 23 and 30 year olds, parents, grandparents.  That’s a lot of different wine tastes. And we all know how wine involves your palette. 

 

Personally, I mean, I started with semi-dry wines, and today I would go for the Volcano, which is the single vineyard one, you know, the geeky one that goes into oak and large oak. But how long it stayed, and how long it was fermented, and so forth.

 

As opposed to my 21 year old. She says, “Mom, give me something light and fun”. 

 

So this is what’s so beautiful about Carmel is that you can give them the “Buzz” series, which is the sparkling, a flavored wine and it’s semi-sweet, and they love it. But yet, on the other hand, my father would like the brandy which we also produce.  And, me,  myself,  would go for the high end one. So everybody around the table  can enjoy their own glass of wine, and that’s miraculous in a country like ours, it’s an achievement. 

 

 

Lets do a deeper dive on the wine.

 

Because I’m at the age of liking these geeky kinds of wines, I want to talk about Carmel Signature. Carmel Signature is all the premium wines under Carmel Winery’s label.  It means that while we make regular table wines, you can also drink our Signature series and it has our signature on it, Carmel signature with a symbol of spies. 

 

That symbol means it’s coming from the top vineyards in Israel. So it’s coming up from the Galilee. It’s coming from the Judean Hills. It’s always being picked from single vineyards that are growing up in the north, with really meticulous care.

 

When it comes into the winery, it’s separated in oak, and then after the fermentation, it’s blended together for a while until it creates a beautiful blend. 

 

So two things I want to talk about, one is we are launching “Single vineyard”, which is a very famous among Kosher drinkers.  They love it knowing it’s Single Vineyard from Carmel and they want to taste it because it’s been planted since 2010.

 

Also, we are launching something today that’s a bit higher. It’s called Volcano, because it comes from a special vineyard that was planted in 2010.  Picked from their Cabernet Sauvignon, which Americans love.

 

So combine the Cabernet grapes,  the single vineyard, the signature symbol, the immaculate vineyard work.  Combing in all and eventually you get something that’s really really beautiful on the palate, very rich, but yet something you can age and drink 5 – 10 years from now.

 

Amazing, so tell me more about the Carmel Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2019.  What meal would you pair with it for dinner?

 

When we are drinking such a rich and full wine, you would expect to have a matching experience with the food. So usually people would go for roasted meats, fatty meats because the wine is so rich in tannins.

 

I would actually go for the long-cooked lamb, because I’m Mediterranean, I’m Tunisian.

 

So I would put all these herbs inside, and yet these herbs would not damage the quality of the wine or the flavors it also pronounces. But long cooked. When you think about a bite of that alongside rice pilaf.  You know what that is like? A mixture of the spices should  match perfectly to that cabernet.  The balance you would get is quite amazing.

 

Let’s move to a second wine. 

 

What I want to talk about is a wine called Carmel Mediterranean. It’s also on the Carmel Signature which received 96 points by Decanter, which was a big thing for us.

 

The Americans that came here in 2000, when they tried it they were just blown away.

 

Mediterranean Carmel is a combination.  It’s got Carignan, it’s got Petit Verdot. It’s got Petit Syrah. It’s got single vineyards, separated from all of Israel. It combined later on, after 8 months in oak together, as a blend.

 

When you taste it it feels like you are tasting some part of the Judean Hills climate, which is limestone and rocky, chalky.  When you go out to the Northern Galilee, it’s just a bit wet there, there’s more rain there.  So it would feel a lot more earthiness and herbiness into the wines, and combining that, together with also some of the northern shore, Carignan, which is a 100 year old vine. That just gives you a sensation on your palette that you can’t give up. 

 

Then we say, Israel is in one bottle for Carmel Mediterranean and the Carmel Signature.

 

The best wines for Spring revealed by Sommelier Jaime Smith
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The Best Wines for Spring revealed by Sommelier Jaime Smith

By Jaime Smith — 2 years ago

The best wines for Spring revealed by Sommelier Jaime Smith

With the coming of spring and the equinox, we start a time of renewal in nature, particularly in the northern hemisphere as the vineyards start to bud and come alive with energy. As the weather starts to warm and the plants wake up from a nice winter snooze, it’s time to think about what the last few years harvests have given us (as far as bottled wine).

With this warming, we still have cool if not cold nights, so when thinking about choosing wines for this new season, we have few limits.

We can celebrate in the day with sparklers and fade into the evening with a heartier red to keep you toasty.

These wines were chosen for QPR (quality to price ratio) as this is the single best determinate that defines well made wines. A good way to think about this is that if you have the means to drink a bottle daily, sub $20 is a sweet spot.

If you prefer one better bottle a week for a nice dinner on the weekend, perhaps $35 is a nice option; a very special bottle shouldn’t cost more than $75 (ever) in a store.

Not to give away the game but generally at wholesale if a bottle costs, for terms of simplicity, $10, in a store it would be 35% on top of that; on a shelf to you for ~ $14.

The markup for a restaurant is generally 300-400%, as they have many operating costs inlaid.

If anyone ever tells you they understand how bottles of wine are priced, they are lying.

These 15 wines represent some of the tastiness that is the exciting wine market right now. The wine will include both domestic and international selections and depending on where you live, will dictate the availability of each; the internet is the great leveler of the field!

For ease of choice to match both your moos and temperature needs, we split these up into a few categories. Mix and match!

Sparkling Springtime Wines

 

Sparkling wines are an everyday pleasure, from Pet-nats to traditional Champagne, the category is wide open, exciting and affordable.

Kobal, Bajta, Blaufrankisch, Natural Sparkling Rosé, Slovenia

Kobal, Bajta, Blaufrankisch, Natural Sparkling Rosé, Slovenia

Kobal, Bajta, Blaufrankisch, Natural Sparkling Rosé, Slovenia $22

Absolutely one of the most fun and tasty and colorful sparklers out there, the wine nerds and G-Ma would both drink this.

Buy Kobal, Bajta, Blaufrankisch, Natural Sparkling Rosé here

Alfredo Bertolani, Lambrusco, Rose Emilia-Romagna

Alfredo Bertolani, Lambrusco, Rose Emilia-Romagna

Alfredo Bertolani, Lambrusco, Rose Emilia-Romagna , Italy $14

Don’t buy this if you want that sweet & heavy sparkling red, this is another level, fully dry and zippy.

Buy Alfredo Bertolani, Lambrusco, Rose Emilia-Romagna here

Le Vigne di Alice, Tajad, Prosecco, Italy

Le Vigne di Alice, Tajad, Prosecco, Italy

Le Vigne di Alice, Tajad, Prosecco, Italy, $18

Hands down one of the best dry Prosecco’s made.

Buy Le Vigne di Alice here.

1+1=3 , Cava, Brut, Spain

1+1=3 , Cava, Brut, Spain

1+1=3 , Cava, Brut, Spain $15

Traditional Cava , off – dry, not fruity and solid QPR.

Buy 1+1+3 Cava here.

FRESNE-DUCRET, LES NOUVEAUX EXPLORATEURS, Champagne, France $41

FRESNE-DUCRET, LES NOUVEAUX EXPLORATEURS, Champagne

FRESNE-DUCRET, LES NOUVEAUX EXPLORATEURS, Champagne

A Champagne for this price that destroys all the big names in this category.

Buy Fresne-Ducret here

 

White wines for Springtime

 

White wines: light to heavy and joyous to accompany the new season!

2020 SELBACH 'INCLINE' RIESLING QUALITÄTSWEIN, MOSEL

2020 SELBACH ‘INCLINE’ RIESLING QUALITÄTSWEIN, MOSEL, GERMANY $17
Pure Riesling essence, a touch fruity, green apple crunchy!

Buy Selbach ‘Incline’ Riesling here

 

ARNEIS, COLLINA SAN PONZIO Roero , Piedmont, Italy $14
Clean, fresh, apple and fennel , zippy minerals, perfect.

Buy Arneis Collina San Ponzio here

Collina San Ponzio 2021 Roero Arneis

Collina San Ponzio 2021 Roero Arneis

Dog Point Vineyard, Sauvignon Blanc , New Zealand $20
Find a better savvie , you won’t!

Dog Point Vineyard, Sauvignon Blanc , New Zealand

 

Buy Dog Point Vineyard’s Sauvignon Blanc here

 

 

Scar of the Sea x Dedalus, Central Coast, Chardonnay, California $30
New school, rich and complex, no butter in sight.

Scar of the Sea x Dedalus, Central Coast, Chardonnay

Scar of the Sea x Dedalus, Central Coast, Chardonnay

Buy Scar of the Sea x Dedalus here

GRENACHE BLANC, COTES-DU-RHONE, DOM DE LA SOLITUDE, France $16

Deep and rich, a heavier wine with texture for days.

GRENACHE BLANC, COTES-DU-RHONE, DOM DE LA SOLITUDE

GRENACHE BLANC, COTES-DU-RHONE, DOM DE LA SOLITUDE

Buy Grenache Blanc Dom De La Solitude here

 

Red Wines for Springtime

 

Red Wines: lighter to heavier again, dealers choice.

Matilda Nieves, Mencia, Ribeira Sacra, Spain $18
Light , zippy, Smokey , perfect for a warm night.

Matilda Nieves, Mencia, Ribeira Sacra, Spain

Matilda Nieves, Mencia, Ribeira Sacra, Spain

Buy Matilda Nieves, Mencia, Ribeira Sacra here

Lieu Dit,  Gamay , Santa Maria, California $25
Step outside of Beaujolais and see what the cool kids are drinking from Cali.

Lieu Dit,  Gamay , Santa Maria, California

Lieu Dit,  Gamay , Santa Maria, California

Buy Lieu Dit,  Gamay here

 

CLAUDIO QUARTA VIGNAIOLO, Aglianico, Irpinia, Italy $16
Medium bodied, dense black fruits, Smokey, meaty, lovely.

CLAUDIO QUARTA VIGNAIOLO, Aglianico, Irpinia, Italy

CLAUDIO QUARTA VIGNAIOLO, Aglianico, Irpinia, Italy

Buy CLAUDIO QUARTA VIGNAIOLO, Aglianico here

 

BORDEAUX, CH LANDES, LUSSAC-ST-EMILION, France $25
A classic claret!

Buy Bordeaux, Chateau Landes Emilion here

BORDEAUX, CH LANDES, LUSSAC-ST-EMILION

BORDEAUX, CH LANDES, LUSSAC-ST-EMILION

COTES DU RHONE VILLAGES-SAINT GERVAIS, ROUVIERES, MOURVEDRE/SYRAH, France $18

Full bodied, spiced, herbed, a rich bowl of black fruits.

Cotes-du-Rhone-Villages Saint-Gervais “Les Rouvieres

Cotes-du-Rhone-Villages Saint-Gervais “Les Rouvieres

Buy Cotes Dr Rhone Villages-Saint Gervais Rouvieres here

About Sommelier Jaime Smith

Sommelier Jaime Smith

Sommelier Jaime Smith

a drone in the Sommelier Brain Collective.  Jaime Smith loves wine. He’s currently in DC causing havoc.

 

 

 

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